PKR candidate for Setiawangsa Ibrahim Yaacob has claimed in an election petition that the Election Commission (EC) had failed to check on the existence of double voting in the parliamentary constituency.

Setiawangsa is a parliamentary seat where the Defence Ministry and several army camps are located.

Ibrahim, who lost by 1,390 votes in the May 5 general election, also claimed in his election petition filed yesterday that there is duplication in that eight people having the same names were found in the postal voters list, and he went on further to list them.

In addition to this, Stream 4 in the early voting for army personnel showed that 650 people had cast their votes against 690 ballot papers which had been issued, and this raises questions about the remaining 40 ballot papers as stated in Form 14.

Similarly in Stream 8, there is a discrepancy as there is an excess of 41 ballot papers cast, whereas it is stated in the form that 650 people had cast their votes. He went on to list similar grouses in other streams.

Ibrahim further claimed that together with doubts over the performance of the indelible ink which can be washed off easily, this had resulted in the threat of double voting to be real.

Instead of rushing home, the majority of the crowd who came opted to stay and listen to Opposition icon Anwar Ibrahim and his Pakatan Rakyat colleagues talk about electoral fraud and get the latest update on the legal action Anwar and PR plan to institute against the Election Commission. The EC is widely perceived to have been guilty of helping Prime Minister Najib Razak’s Umno-BN coalition win the May 5 general election through unfair and dishonest means.

“We were expecting a big crowd, we prepared for that. The police and the authorities gave us good co-operation. We can plan but it is the One up there who decides. In fact, I actually had thought it might rain and tried to prepare for it. Thank God, we had a good hall and a good sound system. The people didn’t move off, they stayed put till the end and even after the rain stopped, they continued listening to the speeches of the leaders. This is something that really touches the heart. It is a marvelous spirit,” Johari Abdul, the MP for Sungei Petani, toldMalaysia Chronicle.

The rain came around 10pm, erupting suddenly and heavily. The people, who were seated on a large field, got to their feet almost in unison and in a wave-like motion, rushed for the makeshift stage built outside a covered hall.

Despite the large numbers – nearly 10,000 on the field – no one got hurt and the confusion lasted only briefly. Johari’s aides and team of volunteers seemed to know what to do and they responded quite swiftly. The situation was brought under control and within 10 minutes or so, the people were seated again albeit this time on the floor of the hall and ready to listen to more ceramahs or political lectures from the Pakatan leaders.

Buoyed by the huge public support for the Black 505 rallies, Pakatan leaders have minced no words attacking the Umno-BN for “stealing” their victory. They plan to hold a giant rally on June 22, where they are targeting a one-million crowd.

“Anything can happen on 22nd, 23rd and 24th (of June). We will be there (in Parliament for the oath-taking) on the 24th and also on the 25th (for the King’s speech). 22nd will be a big day where we will congregate at Padang Merbok – 505 – and we will probably begin at 12 noon,” said Johari.

“There are some who say they plan to stay overnight, camp there till 23rd, and then 24th will be the oath-taking. So this is the series of events that will take place. 22nd will be the big do. (On) 23rd, the people may want to stay and see how things are because they are expecting a lot of media to be there from all over the world, so they want to take advantage of these media and they may want to voice out their dissatisfaction over this minority government.”

Pandikar Amin & the ‘big-do’ on June 22

In the May 5 election, the Umno-BN won 133 seats in the federal Parliament versus the Pakatan’s 89. But Anwar has refused to concede defeat, claiming large-scale vote-rigging and irregularities. The majority of Malaysia’s 13 million-odd electorate appear to believe him as the Pakatan had won 51% of the total votes cast and yet could lag behind the BN by as many as 44 seats in Parliament.

The 64-year-old Anwar began the Black 505 rallies to protest the alleged biased ballot. His coalition is demanding the resignations of the Election Commission chairman and deputy chairman. They also want re-elections in some 30 ‘dubious’ seats.

Some other moves begun by Pakatan to highlight their dissatisfaction over the outcome of the country’s 13th general election include the recent boycott of a parliamentary briefing.

This has prompted Pandikar Amin, the BN Speaker in the past parliamentary session, to warn that should the Pakatan leaders boycott the official oath-taking ceremony on June 24th, he would not allow them to be sworn in at another date. Pakatan leaders would then run the risk of being dropped as elected representatives, said Pandikar, who has since been roundly condemned for his “unlawful” and “unbecoming” threat.

Tuesday’s assembly in Sungei Petani is the 12th Black 505 rally. The next will be held on Wednesday in Kota Bahru, Kelantan, followed by another on June 16 at Batu Pahat, Johor. But it is the June 22 “big do”, which will be the most closely watched.

“Exactly like this, a peaceful assembly, but larger scale – a national event – to show Malaysians and the world we will not condone cheating,” Anwar had said, referring to the June 22 rally. He made it clear it was to be a peaceful assembly and not a street protest.

A University of Adelaide expert says that while the war against smoking in Hollywood movies has been largely won, Asian cinema represents the next major battleground for anti-smoking and anti-cancer groups.

Dr Peter Pugsley , Senior Lecturer in Media at the University of Adelaide, says that as smoking rates have been rising in Asia, so too has the depiction of smoking in Asian cinema.

Dr Pugsley found that in the Malaysian film Spinning Gasing, the main female character, a Malay Muslim woman called Yati, lights up her first cigarette within the opening minutes of the film and constantly smokes throughout.

"Yati is a rebellious and often sexualised character. Her smoking is part of an idealised image of individual, non-traditional lifestyle behaviours that are increasingly being adopted by young Asian women," Dr Pugsley says.

"In that film, the deliberate framing of shots that involve smoking and the frequent use of backlighting to exaggerate the whiteness of the exhaled smoke helps to reinforce a style of 'tobacco imagery' that the anti-smoking lobby in the United States has fought hard against.

"Part of the problem with depicting cigarette smoking in this way is that it normalises the behaviour and makes it seem appealing, especially to young people. At the same time, the increase in health issues and spiralling costs associated with treatment put a huge drain on medical services," he says.